Subversive Content Design User Experience Survey Data

This study explores the use of subversive game content in critical game design to address sensitive social, political, and personal topics while avoiding the risk of undermining their significance. Critical game design is focused on conveying messages and addressing real-world issues, with the goal of fostering thoughtful engagement and critical thinking among players as they interact with the game. However, despite these serious intentions, critical games retain fundamental elements such as rules, mechanics, and in-game objectives. A seamless gaming experience may unintentionally shift players' focus towards entertainment rather than the intended message, due to typical expectations of the medium. This unintended diversion risks trivializing the serious messages embedded in the games. To address this challenge, several subversive game content design strategies are proposed, including leveraging familiarity, the early introduction of subversive elements, justifying subversion, and promoting player agency. Two video games, Border Politics and Get Good: Grinding Chronicles are developed to test the effectiveness of the proposed design strategies. These strategies are intended to challenge conventional gaming norms and intentionally induce player discomfort, which may be necessary to safeguard against the trivialization of sensitive topics. The user experience results (N = 54) show that the proposed design strategies are effective in maintaining player engagement with the intended messages, successfully balancing the need for critical reflection with the inherent entertainment aspects of gaming. The data demonstrates that these strategies work well in preventing the trivialization of sensitive topics, thereby validating their use in critical game design.